The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 58
I was so sick of blacking out and waking up in strange places. The last thing I remembered was a giant dragon picking me up in its talons and lifting me into the air.
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
I was so sick of blacking out and waking up in strange places. The last thing I remembered was a giant dragon picking me up in its talons and lifting me into the air. I assumed I would be eaten, but it seemed as though Urgu had other plans for me.
“You’re up,” I heard from the shadows. “I thought you might be dead.”
Out of the darkness stepped Ozma, still just as radiant as the last time I saw her, but without the smile that I remembered from our last encounter.
“Ozma!” I said breathlessly. “Where are we?”
“My castle, or more correctly, what used to be my castle. Unfortunately, it now belongs to Nimue. It is a sad state of affairs what has happened to us, but not one that was unforeseen. I always assumed that one day I would end up in this dungeon, unless Hypnos saw fit to return, which I knew was unlikely at best.”
“You knew you would come here one day?”
Ozma sat down next to me. “I knew not when it would happen, but that it would happen. I could not run forever. My power was fading, and hers grows stronger with each passing day.”
“That sucks.”
“I don’t know this expression.”
“It means not very good.”
“Oh. Well then yes, it sucks. It has sucked for one hundred years. That is why my Gabrielle has much hope for you, and why I had to cast her out.”
“Why did you cast her out?”
“A rebellion is not built on hope, little one. It is built on what can be seen and done in the concrete, not the abstract. Gabriel fought against that idea and spent all her life talking about how we can get Hypnos back. It permeated my troops’ consciousnesses. It made them sloppy. It made them overlook the truth. The false hope consumed my men, while I knew the truth…”
“And what is the truth?”
“Hypnos isn’t coming back. Wherever he is, he will be there forever, and there was nothing we can do to find him. Instead, we must try to gain support from the other gods and take down Hera. Unfortunately, the gods are fickle, and their allegiances are hard won.”
“The gods don’t want to help?”
“Why would they help? They care nothing for Oz or Hera. They have their own games to play, and those plans don’t involve helping me, a powerless refugee queen.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It is neither good nor bad. It just is, child.”
“It’s funny, you look like a child.”
“And yet, you are one. I have seen much in three millennia on Urgu. I watched my predecessor rise and fall, and the one before that and before that, until the mantle fell to me.”
“Your parents?”
She shook her head. “That is not how the royal succession works in Urgu. You are chosen by Hypnos himself for your grace, determination, poise, and character, just like Hera has her champion, you become his. I suppose I am the last of his line.”
“Because he abandoned you?”
“In a way, but I also failed him. I failed to prevent this takeover by Nimue, and I failed to keep him from being exiled.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “Hera is an evil shrew.”
Ozma chuckled. “Everyone in the royal court is the same, my dear. They are all heartless and vindictive. My job was to play their emotions and make them believe in our vision for the future. Unfortunately, it didn’t take. Their allegiances turned to Nimue when I fell out of favor.”
I didn’t understand. “What vision?”
“Modernity,” Ozma said. “We have been stuck in the past. We wanted to bring Urgu into the future. We heard tales of the Industrial Revolution on Earth. That was what I wanted here.”
I scratched my head. “The only piece of technology I’ve seen around here was the computer terminal which was used to nearly kill me.”
Ozma let out a deep sigh. “Yes, that was, sadly, a prototype of my design. Please believe me, it was meant to help humanity, not hurt it.”
I moved toward her. “I do believe you.”
“Thank you,” Ozma said, solemnly. “I showed it to the royal council, and they called it heresy. That was the last straw for them. I believe that was the end of my reign, though it wouldn’t officially end for some years hence.”
I cocked my head. “And that’s why they turned on you?”
“The main reason,” Ozma said with a sad nod. “They also thought I was too kind to the peasants. Hypnos had love in his heart for all in Urgu, not just those in the royal class. We both knew the workers were being exploited, and that needed to end. Whenever you tell powerful men to cede their power, there will be trouble. Hypnos thought we could turn them, but we did not expect them to turn to Hera and pledge their loyalty to her, and to the Wicked Witch.”
“How awful,” I said, touching her shoulder gently. “We have to get you back on the throne.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Ozma said, patting my hand with hers. “But you have made your decision to leave us and return to Earth. This is no longer your concern.”
She was right. Damn Chelle for putting me in an impossible position. If I ever got out of here, she would convince me to go to the Obsidian Spindle, and home.
Wait. That was it. The Obsidian Spindle. I could still help.
“No. If we get into the Obsidian Spindle, I can change fate. I can change the Wicked Witch’s fate. I could make this all right again.”
“You only get one request of the Fates, Rose. You can’t save us and save yourself at the same time. You must choose.”
“Why?”
“That is part of being an adult. Nobody likes it, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
“I hate it.”
“Me too.”
The door to the cell opened and a long-haired guard stepped inside. He snapped his fingers and two more came into the room and grabbed Ozma.
“Bring her.”
“No!” I shouted, rushing to stop them. “Let her go.”
The long-haired guard scoffed and slapped me down with his metal gauntlet. “You’ll have your turn, welp. Enjoy your breaths while they still last.”
But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t enjoy anything. Not while I knew Urgu would soon lose its rightful heir.
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.